Player finds $1,000,000.01 at Her Favorite Pit Stop
The Florida Lottery (Lottery) today announces that Melanie Strickland, 60, of Tallahassee, claimed a $1 million prize from the GOLD RUSH LIMITED Scratch-Off game at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. She chose to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $795,000.00.
When asked by Lottery Headquarters if Strickland has any big plans for her win, she wasn’t sure, “I think I still can’t believe it. I just wish my mom was here to see this.” Strickland recalls her mom collecting any spare pennies she found and placing them in a jar. Strickland’s morning at the Parkside Food and Gas was a routine pit stop, and after discovering her big win, Strickland went back to tell her friends. “When I stepped out of my car, the first thing I saw was a big, shiny penny. I picked it up in honor of my mom.”
Melanie Strickland poses with an oversized check after claiming a $1 million prize from the GOLD RUSH LIMITED Scratch-Off Game at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.
Strickland purchased her winning ticket from Parkside Food and Gas, located at 1417 South Monroe Street in Tallahassee. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning Scratch-Off ticket.
The $20 Scratch-Off game, GOLD RUSH LIMITED, launched in September 2021 and features 32 top prizes of $5 million and 100 prizes of $1 million! Additionally, this ticket is filled with over 33,000 prizes of $1,000 to $100,000! The game’s overall odds of winning are 1-in-2.65.
Scratch-Off games are an important part of the Lottery’s portfolio of games, comprising approximately 75 percent of ticket sales and generating more than $1.3 billion for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in fiscal year 2020-21.
ABOUT THE FLORIDA LOTTERY
The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $41 billion to enhance education and sending more than 917,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The Florida Lottery reinvests 99 percent of its revenue back into Florida’s economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,000 Lottery retailers and transfers to education. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $80.5 billion in prizes and made more than 3,500 people millionaires. For more information, please visit www.flalottery.com.
